Saco Industrial Track

The afforementioned track is in fact the reminents of the original Eastern Route. According to Robert Lindsell's The Rail Lines of Northern New England, in section 30 entitled, "Eastern Route", "a spur known as the Saco Industrial Branch was retained from Alfred Road (now US Route 111) through the former Eastern sation to serve several freight customers in Biddeford" (pg.156). All of this seemingly happened around 1944 when B&M abandoned south from Rigby Yard to 1.5 miles north of Saco (pg.154). As for the frequency of its current use I am not sure. Hopefully this insight helps eleviate any confusion!

The Steel company still unloads flatcars of plate steel on the team track just north of the I-195 overpass in Saco and I believe Wood Structures was either sold or came out of bankruptcy and is operating again and may be receiving center beams. They are alongside the Maine turnpike just north of where the I-195 exit. In the not too distant past, say 10 or so years ago, there was a chemical receiver in the Saco Industrial park just south of I-195 along the turnpike that received tankcars and next to them was a scrap company (maybe Saco Steel??) that shipped out gons. A few years before that there was a fairly busy grain/feed comapny right in that same general area along I-195. At one time there was also a small brickyard further south down the line in Saco that received a boxcar or two a year of bricks. Not sure of their status. With so little traffic on the line, am surprised that it hasn't been abandoned.

Wood Structures did have a load of lumber there as of yesterday, spotted it from the pike. Not long ago there was also a covered hopper at the team track, by where they unload the steel, maybe plastic pellets ? While taking Amtrak to Boston and back a couple weeks ago, we noticed a line of Portsmouth traffic sitting in Dover, must be why we're not seeing it in Portland lately. There was also a line of about 8 grey covered hoppers (assuming pellets) along a building on the east side of the mainline just below Biddeford, not sure who that customer is, some type of plastics plant possibly. Never noticed cars there in past years, good to see !

Bulkheadflat wrote:There was also a line of about 8 grey covered hoppers (assuming pellets) along a building on the east side of the mainline just below Biddeford, not sure who that customer is, some type of plastics plant possibly. Never noticed cars there in past years, good to see !

That would be CorrectDeck. FMI: http://www.correctdeck.com/

MEC407 wrote:

Bulkheadflat wrote:There was also a line of about 8 grey covered hoppers (assuming pellets) along a building on the east side of the mainline just below Biddeford, not sure who that customer is, some type of plastics plant possibly. Never noticed cars there in past years, good to see !

That would be CorrectDeck. FMI: http://www.correctdeck.com/

Thanks for the heads up on that and the link. I have a deck project coming up soon, and rather than use the Trex I typically use when doing composite decking, I will bid it using CorrectDeck to support the locals.

They seem to have a good product. They also have a site at http://www.correctporch.com/ if you have any porch projects.

(Just so no one gets confused, CorrectDeck is located in the Biddeford Industrial Park and has a spur off of the mainline; they are not on the Saco Industrial Track.)

I thought Correct Deck went under and was bought by the shingle maker GAF. Perhaps they bought them but kept the name for product recognition?

It appears they were acquired by GAF, but the plant in Biddeford still exists and is still producing the original CorrectDeck line of products as far as I can tell. (Open to corrections, of course.)

MEC407 wrote:It appears they were acquired by GAF, but the plant in Biddeford still exists and is still producing the original CorrectDeck line of products as far as I can tell. (Open to corrections, of course.)

I know the plant is still there, I was merely saying that GAF bought the plant from them after they went belly up.

From the Saco Police Department:

Saco Police Department wrote:The Saco Police Department is advising the public to avoid the Industrial Park Road due to a train that has derailed and is blocking the roadway. The train slipped off the tracks necessitating vehicle traffic attempting to enter the Maine Turnpike to use the Main street on-ramps. Vehicles leaving the turnpike and needing to use the Industrial Park Road are being re-routed by police to the Main Street exit ramps.

Boston and Maine Railroad officials have been contacted, are enroute to the scene and making arrangements to correct the issue. It is unknown how long it will take to set the train back onto the tracks and motorists are advised to use alternate routes and avoid the area.

MEC 503 and at least 1 loaded centerbeam

Photo and update at The Portland Press Herald:

http://www.pressherald.com/news/Slipper ... _Saco.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Two more photos:

https://twitter.com/BradWGME/status/419 ... 04/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://twitter.com/scottddolan/status/ ... 16/photo/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Update from the PPH:

The Portland Press Herald wrote:Pam Am Railways cleared the crossing about 4 1/2 hours after the train slipped off the tracks, blocking traffic on Industrial Park Road, according to Cynthia Scarano, the company’s executive vice president.
. . .
The company used a second engine to remove the derailed train from the crossing in time for the afternoon rush hour, however, the first engine remained skewed off the track.
. . .
Scarano said it is not out of the ordinary for the train to travel the snowy track without a plow on front.

Read the rest of the article at: http://www.pressherald.com/news/Slipper ... _Saco.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

From The Portland Press Herald:

The Portland Press Herald wrote:A man in his 50s was rushed to the hospital after he fell 30 to 40 feet from a railroad bridge connecting Saco and Biddeford onto the frozen surface of the Saco River.

Emergency crews were summoned at 12:30 p.m. after the man had fallen from what local people call “the black bridge” near Biddeford High School, said Biddeford Deputy Chief Kevin Duross.

Read the rest of the article at: http://www.pressherald.com/news/Fall_fr ... s_man.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;